In This Section

Membership

Why Join the AHA?

If your field is history—no matter your specialization or profession—membership in the American Historical Association is indispensable. Among the numerous organizations that serve historians, only the AHA brings together historians from all geographical, chronological, and topical specializations and all work contexts, embracing the breadth and variety of activity in history today. More importantly, only the AHA addresses the interests of the discipline as a whole as well as the diverse needs of its individual members. No matter what other specialized organizations you belong to, membership in the AHA is still essential because it provides national leadership on issues such as academic freedom, access to archives, the centrality of history to public culture, improvements in curricula, and other vital issues.

Promote Scholarly Discussion

Publishing the American Historical Review, the major journal of record for the historical discipline offering hundreds of indispensable book reviews and original scholarship from every major field of study

Hosting our annual meeting, the largest gathering of historians in the United States featuring panels, workshops, posters, and receptions to interest every historian

Publishing Perspectives on History, the newsmagazine for the historical profession, which offers articles and commentary on teaching, technology, history in the media, public history, archives, and research

Posting on a wide range of topics relevant to members and the history discipline on AHA Today, the official blog of the AHA

Facilitating AHA Communities, an online forum where members can join in discussion and collaborate with other historians and educators

Advance Teaching and Learning

Improving history curriculum at the primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels through projects such as Tuning and Bridging Cultures

Enhance Career Development

Demonstrating how graduate programs in history can prepare doctoral students for a wide spectrum of career opportunities through Career Diversity for Historians, a three-year, Mellon-funded program

Collecting resources to help members manage their careers at any stage and in any professional area, whether searching for a job with a BA in history, launching a post-PhD job search, finding a niche in public history, getting ready for tenure review, or exploring options in the private sector